Berlese Pl. 18, Camellia Imperialis

Oppenheimer Editions Print

Iconographie du Genre Camellia—Published by Oppenheimer Editions

Produced from 1839—1843 by Lorenzo Berlèse (1784—1863), the greatest 19th-century scholar on the subject of camellias, Iconographie du Genre Camellia comprises 300 partly hand-colored plates. Engraved by Dumenil, Gabriel and Oudet and printed in Paris by N. Rémond, the subtlety and coloring of these plates is comparable in many ways to Redouté’s Les Roses. Beautiful in groupings of four, six, or eight images, the camellias vary in color from ruby red to pink, white, and variegated.

Camellias reached their peak in popularity in Europe between 1825 and 1870, during which time an enormous number of the seedlings obtained by crossing variants of Camellia japonica were raised and named, primarily by the Abbé Berlèse and two Belgian nurserymen. The most important and definitive work on camellias, Iconographie du Genre Camellia ou Description et Figures des Camellia Les Plus Beaux et Les Plus Rares depicts 300 varieties of camellias grown in the Berlèse's gardens and hothouses. Born in Campo Molino, for most of his career the wealthy Italian abbot worked in France where he studied, cultivated, and wrote about camellias. Drawings for these extremely rare, fine stipple engravings were made by the German artist Johann Jakob Jung (1819—1844).

Established in 1999, Oppenheimer Editions has partnered with prestigious museums to make prints from their holdings. Works from the New-York Historical Society’s unrivaled collections of John James Audubon’s watercolors and the Hudson River School paintings are examples of art that otherwise would be unobtainable. Among the institutional collections we have partnered with are the American Museum of Natural History, the Field Museum, and Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. These are not mere reproductions. They are limited-edition fine art prints made with the finest quality archival pigments on rag watercolor paper and executed to exacting standards.

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Joel Oppenheimer Inc. is located in Chicago’s historic Tree Studios. We are passionate about natural history art, offering superb examples of rare works by John J. Audubon, Mark Catesby, Alexander Wilson, Pierre-Joseph Redouté, Dr. Robert Thornton, Basilius Besler, John Gould, Edward Lear, and other important natural history artists.